Welcome to Elwood City Central Forum! If you haven't already, we encourage you to sign up and join in the fun of discussing the Arthur franchise!




Author Topic: Unrealism in Arthur?  (Read 737 times)

Muppetfan

  • Administrator
  • In Mr. Ratburn's class
  • *****
  • Posts: 222
    • View Profile
Unrealism in Arthur?
« on: October 20, 2012, 01:41:27 pm »
Arthur has always been about everyday kids facing everyday problems. But has anyone noticed some fantastical events going on in the series as of late?

For example, "To Eat or Not to Eat." A company starts selling candy that makes kids run around with sparkles coming out of their mouths? And candy with radioactive elements in it?

And even more recently, in "Based on a True Story," though I know that something unbelievable had to happen to Ladonna at the end in order for the story to work correctly, but a raccoon taking hat? An abundance of coins pouring out of a soda machine?

I even found the guy bringing a koala into the preschool to be a tad unreasonable.

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter


MCCJ

  • Guest
Re: Unrealism in Arthur?
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2012, 01:54:21 pm »
Arthur has always been about everyday kids facing everyday problems. But has anyone noticed some fantastical events going on in the series as of late?

For example, "To Eat or Not to Eat." A company starts selling candy that makes kids run around with sparkles coming out of their mouths? And candy with radioactive elements in it?

And even more recently, in "Based on a True Story," though I know that something unbelievable had to happen to Ladonna at the end in order for the story to work correctly, but a raccoon taking hat? An abundance of coins pouring out of a soda machine?

I even found the guy bringing a koala into the preschool to be a tad unreasonable.

The soda machine thing that has happened to me before. Many times as a matter of fact. That can be considered realistic.

Muppetfan

  • Administrator
  • In Mr. Ratburn's class
  • *****
  • Posts: 222
    • View Profile
Re: Unrealism in Arthur?
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2012, 01:55:43 pm »
Interesting. I never really heard of that much.

Snowth Woogle

  • Aquaintance of Arthur
  • ***
  • Posts: 419
  • Location: The Sugar Bowl
    • View Profile
    • The Joseph Scarbrough Universe
Re: Unrealism in Arthur?
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2012, 02:05:34 pm »
I know I've mentioned this in another thread somewhere, but I found it far-fetched that there would be restaurants that would cater specifically to people with specific food allergies (in this case, a Chinese restaurant that serves people with peanut allergies, like Binky suddenly had for no reason), until Hubert pointed out that there actually are restaurants like that... in France...

Also, I still stand by my claim that "Sue Ellen Chickens Out" paints a very broad picture of business: I think in a real-life scenario, Mr. Manino really wouldn't have much say in the fate of the Sugar Bowl, and despite Sue Ellen's little protest, or even Mr. Manino changing his mind about selling, the Sugar Bowl would have closed anyway, and Chickin Lickin' would have set up a new location there.
I stretch like a snake, and I shimmy and shake, and I bounce like a ball, and I say something cute when you give me a squeeze!

Roabe

  • New Kid at Lakewood
  • *
  • Posts: 35
  • Location: Rocky River, Ohio
    • View Profile
Re: Unrealism in Arthur?
« Reply #4 on: October 20, 2012, 03:32:45 pm »
Quote
Also, I still stand by my claim that "Sue Ellen Chickens Out" paints a very broad picture of business: I think in a real-life scenario, Mr. Manino really wouldn't have much say in the fate of the Sugar Bowl, and despite Sue Ellen's little protest, or even Mr. Manino changing his mind about selling, the Sugar Bowl would have closed anyway, and Chickin Lickin' would have set up a new location there.
I always thought it was weird how Sue Ellen and co. went right to protesting Chickin Lickin'. At that point all Chickin Lickin did was express interest in purchasing a property that was being sold. If anything, they should have protested Mr. Manino's decision to sell, or tried to look for someone else to buy the Sugar Bowl and keep it open.

We had our own little Sue Ellen Chickens Out moment here in my town (which, coincientally, is named Lakewood :)). McDonald's wanted to buy an old movie theater, tear it down and build a restaurant there. There was a lot of protest, a lot of petitioning to City Hall, a lot of attempts to get local entrepreneurs to buy the property and keep the theater running, but in the end the building was torn down and the McDonald's popped up a few months later.

raidpirate52

  • New Kid at Lakewood
  • *
  • Posts: 22
    • View Profile
Re: Unrealism in Arthur?
« Reply #5 on: October 20, 2012, 03:37:35 pm »
Perhaps the fact they can roam around Elwood City whenever they want could count?

Snowth Woogle

  • Aquaintance of Arthur
  • ***
  • Posts: 419
  • Location: The Sugar Bowl
    • View Profile
    • The Joseph Scarbrough Universe
Re: Unrealism in Arthur?
« Reply #6 on: October 20, 2012, 04:02:29 pm »
Elwood City seems to be like the Mayberry of children's cartoons, and ideally, both are the kind of towns we'd all like to live in, wouldn't you agree?
I stretch like a snake, and I shimmy and shake, and I bounce like a ball, and I say something cute when you give me a squeeze!

MCCJ

  • Guest
Re: Unrealism in Arthur?
« Reply #7 on: October 20, 2012, 04:23:41 pm »
Elwood City seems to be like the Mayberry of children's cartoons, and ideally, both are the kind of towns we'd all like to live in, wouldn't you agree?

I live in a town kind of like Elwood City except we do have our fair share of crazy folks here and crime. I would however recommend living here though. Though I do agree with you any way.

Muppetfan

  • Administrator
  • In Mr. Ratburn's class
  • *****
  • Posts: 222
    • View Profile
Re: Unrealism in Arthur?
« Reply #8 on: October 20, 2012, 04:59:08 pm »
I know I've mentioned this in another thread somewhere, but I found it far-fetched that there would be restaurants that would cater specifically to people with specific food allergies (in this case, a Chinese restaurant that serves people with peanut allergies, like Binky suddenly had for no reason), until Hubert pointed out that there actually are restaurants like that... in France...

Also, I still stand by my claim that "Sue Ellen Chickens Out" paints a very broad picture of business: I think in a real-life scenario, Mr. Manino really wouldn't have much say in the fate of the Sugar Bowl, and despite Sue Ellen's little protest, or even Mr. Manino changing his mind about selling, the Sugar Bowl would have closed anyway, and Chickin Lickin' would have set up a new location there.

As I've said before, Mr. Manino OWNS the Sugar Bowl ENTIRELY. He also founded it.

LovingBeagles

  • New Kid at Lakewood
  • *
  • Posts: 94
  • Beagles...a very nice breed of dog :)
    • View Profile
Re: Unrealism in Arthur?
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2013, 07:58:21 pm »
Arthur IS supposed to be a show that presents real life problems and gives useful morals and advice to today's children, with its interesting stories. But, yes, there IS a lot of unrealism...like the radioactive candy.

I think some examples of the unrealism are exaggerations...like the Big Boss Bar...no food is THAT unhealthy and strange, so the danger of the Big Boss Bar (with the radioactivity and the sparkles), in my view, was quite an exaggeration.
Many of them are those "How in the world does that happen?" occurences, like what happened to Ladonna, or like how Arthur lost El Boomerang in that one episode...the wind blew a pencil off the dresser, turning on a robot that bumped into the box and caused the soccer ball to fall out and somehow make its way down the stairs, off a jack-in-the-box, and out the window (I forgot how the whole process played out, but it was something like that)

However, I've noticed that many of the unrealistic things happening happen with technology...like Arthur's email reading ALOUD, "Toyguy22, you have no mail"...eventually to "No mail. *click* No mail. *click* No mail." Unless that email service has a speech system like Google Translate, it seemed unrealistic to me. Or Fern's phone with that annoying voice announcing aloud the battery reading in "Phony Fern". My guess is that they use those voices in the show's technology to tell the audience what's happening, as opposed to making them read some small text on a screen, which is what most people do.

So Arthur, I guess you can say, is a realistic show with some unrealistic happenings.

Snowth Woogle

  • Aquaintance of Arthur
  • ***
  • Posts: 419
  • Location: The Sugar Bowl
    • View Profile
    • The Joseph Scarbrough Universe
Re: Unrealism in Arthur?
« Reply #10 on: April 16, 2013, 09:28:16 pm »

As I've said before, Mr. Manino OWNS the Sugar Bowl ENTIRELY. He also founded it.
You sure about that? Because from what I recall from his flashback in that episode, he worked there as a teenager, simply sweeping floors and such (I guess kinda like a janitor).
I stretch like a snake, and I shimmy and shake, and I bounce like a ball, and I say something cute when you give me a squeeze!

Superiorwheeljack

  • New Kid at Lakewood
  • *
  • Posts: 5
    • View Profile
Re: Unrealism in Arthur?
« Reply #11 on: July 20, 2013, 06:41:09 pm »
Oh yeah, the sparkle candy that made you go high...
I wonder how it got through the FDA...
Show's you the show needs to end.